


The Long Way Around

by specialrhino



Category: Free!
Genre: Gen, Subtext
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-22
Updated: 2013-12-22
Packaged: 2018-01-05 12:15:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,269
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1093765
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/specialrhino/pseuds/specialrhino
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Five times Rei helped Rin out and the one time he didn’t regret it. Probably.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Long Way Around

**Author's Note:**

  * For [basilmemories](https://archiveofourown.org/users/basilmemories/gifts).



> For basilmemories, who requested "their usual dynamic."
> 
> Many thanks to cest_what, who beta'd this even though she had the flu, and to oddishly, who secured her services for me. Ty also to glovered, crazykookie, subwaycars and slythermint, who sat through me brainstorming at them.
> 
> I know very little about Japanese high schools' academic calendar or general weather, so many details herein have been fudged.

1\. 

_Come to the cliff out by Cherry Tree Park at 6:30 today._

Rei stared at the text. How had Rin even gotten his number? To his knowledge, Haruka, Makoto and Nagisa had only encountered Rin by chance a few times before Nationals. Had Gou given it to him? That traitor.

Life after Nationals had settled back into the normal high school routine, loud lunches and pop quizzes and messing around at arcades. It seemed odd that Rin would be contacting him out of the blue after the dust from all of the drama of the official swim season had settled.

Rei was nothing if not curious, so he sent back an _Okay_ and then tried to concentrate in class and not obsess over what Rin could possibly want to talk about.

At 6:20 he left the library, where his vague search for books pertaining to confronting ex-rivals or people you didn’t know very well turned up very little, and hopped on his bike to confront his not-exactly-ex-nemesis.

Whether purposely or not, the spot was the perfect vantage point from which to watch the sun set over the ocean and streak the sky orange and purple. It was extremely dramatic and also exactly the kind of place Rei would have chosen. He and Rin were terrifyingly similar. Maybe that was why Nagisa had targeted him as the missing person in their club.

Rin arrived five minutes later. He looked more relaxed than the last time Rei had seen him up close, but that didn’t mean very much, given that he’d last seen Rin when he was going through some sort of breakdown and wanted to quit swimming forever.

“Hey,” Rin said gruffly.

“Why did you call me out here?” Rei asked.

Rin fidgeted and said, “I never thanked you. For the other day.”

“You mean, me giving up my spot in the relay?” That had been several weeks ago. “I didn’t do it for you. Is that all?”

It clearly wasn’t all, but Rin was staring moodily at the ground through his fringe in favor of saying anything.

“Rin?” he prompted.

“How is … training going?” His cheeks turned a mottled red and he hurriedly continued, “Has Makoto been using his shoulders more? How is Haru’s timing?”

Rei could tell what he was really asking.

“Nagisa-kun is getting faster, Makoto-sempai’s form is much better, Haruka-sempai is near perfect, as always. Hey.” Rei waited to make sure he had eye contact before he said, “ _They’re all doing fine._ ”

Rin looked like he was about to dismiss him, which, Rei gave up the exhilaration of competing with everyone in a _national tournament_ for this guy, he was not going to let Rin get away that quickly.

“You could just come by and ask. They don’t just want you there during relays, you know.”

Rin was looking out at the setting sun. His fists were clenched and his jaw was a tight line.

Rei wondered about that. “Theoretically, with the amount of exercise you do, you shouldn’t have these kinds of anger issues…oh." He frowned. "Interesting. You left a swimming academy, where you probably worked out several hours a day, and the chemical cocktail of your mild depression and your physical frustration resulted in anger.”

Rin glared at him.

“Really, you should try to work out a few hours a day. It could really help.” So long as he was here, he might as well give Rin some kind of constructive advice. If they really were kind of similar, then like should look out for for like, right?

“Whatever,” Rin said articulately, like the last time he’d had a friend to argue with he’d been ten and that comeback had actually worked.

Rin stalked away without waiting for a reply.

*

Last night had been a little weird, but it hadn’t been any more dramatic than the rest of his life had been after joining the swim club. Rei had almost forgotten about it when Nagisa approached him in the changing room after club.

“Hey, Rei-chan, where were you last night? I came by your house to see if you wanted to play the new Katamari game but you weren’t home.”

“Hm? Oh, I had a thing.” What had he done last night? He had reorganized his bookshelf by color, read ahead in his history textbook, and…ah yes, had a dramatic sunset chat.

Nagisa cocked his head. “But you’re always free on Wednesdays.” Rei knew from experience that he would keep asking until Rei had given him an answer.

“It wasn’t something I had planned – Rin-san called. He wanted to talk to me about something.”

Halfway through the second sentence he realized bringing up Rin was maybe a bad idea. It had been a month since the tournament, after all, and Rin hadn’t come to see any of them or made any friendly overtures. Even Gou hadn’t heard from him.

As if to prove his point, Gou and Haruka looked up and sent him twin wounded looks. 

They were looking at him like he wasn’t the victim here! He didn’t want to hang out with their stupid Rin-chan-san, anyways. This sort of thing was exactly why Rei wanted Rin to talk to his actual friends. They all clearly missed him.

“Why did he want to talk to you?” Makoto asked from behind him. Oh no, he had heard as well.

Rei thought about what it looked like to them, him giving up his place in the relay for Rin, him skipping practice to go and talk to Rin, him declaring he and Rin were the same. Could Nagisa think Rei had done all of that out of a feeling of kinship? And now that the two of them were meeting up at after school…did they think he and Rin were _friends_? That Rin had singled him out as the person he wanted to keep in touch with? Because that was certainly the furthest thing from the truth.

They didn’t seem to believe him when he tried to explain this.

The entire team spent the next few days sending him betrayed glances. Dammit. That was the last time he was talking to that guy.

 

2\. 

Rei managed to keep that resolve for two full weeks. It was Gou’s fault when he broke it. He was sitting with her on the roof Monday afternoon for one of their regularly scheduled hangouts. Once Rei had found himself in the possession of friends, he had taken pains to include them in his regular schedule. It was what the book _Wading through the Waters of Friendship: Different Strokes for Different Folks_ had recommended, and the results so far were quite satisfactory.

Gou lowered her binoculars and looked over at Rei. “So. It’s my birthday on the 11th.”

He made a noncommittal noise, eyes still glued to his binoculars. He and Gou agreed - the soccer team practicing on a hot day was a truly beautiful sight to behold. 

She poked him in the shoulder with the pencil she’d been using to sketch one of the defensemen. “Hey, are you listening to me? All of you guys have to come to my party.” Gou was refreshingly straightforward, unlike certain brothers of hers he could name. “Make sure to tell everyone else, too.”

“Of course,” Rei said. 

He waited until she left for home before he sent a text that he really hoped was unnecessary.

 _Rin-chan-san_ , it began. They weren’t actually friends, and Rei liked to maintain the illusion that his number wasn’t programmed into Rin’s phone. _What are you planning on getting Gou-chan for her birthday?_

The reply was quick. Rei imagined Rin sitting alone in his room, brooding. Based on observation of his interpersonal habits, Rei assumed that was what Rin did with 70% of his time.

_Her birthday??_

Rei resisted the urge to facepalm. Such undignified acts were beneath him. 

_Yes, it’s next Saturday._

_What…what are you supposed to do for a birthday?_

Rei stared at his phone. Maybe the text would spontaneously rearrange itself into something less discouraging.

After several minutes, Rin followed up with, _I haven’t celebrated a birthday since I left for Australia._

Was laughing or crying more appropriate in this situation? Rei wasn’t sure. Instead, he responded, _I’ll send you reference materials. Make plans to stay at home for the weekend. Walk her home on Friday. Buy her something cute._

_Wouldn’t she rather walk home with her friends?_

Rin closed the window and pressed call. He refused to have this conversation via text. It would only prolong Rei’s exposure to Rin’s special brand of stupidity.

Rin picked up on the second ring. He sounded confused as he said hello.

“Your sister really cares about you, you know,” Rei said bluntly.

“What? Of course I know that,” Rin said.

“Why don’t you ever talk to her?” Rei asked. 

“We talk. Sometimes. We’re not _not_ talking!”

“She wishes you luck before every one of your races, she lights up whenever you text her or your name is mentioned…you didn’t even call her when you moved back to Japan! Some of us aren’t lucky enough to have siblings and you act like you don’t have one at all!”

There was a pause, and Rei thought for a blessed moment Rin was thinking about what he’d said and was going to respond with something sensible.

But then Rin said, “You aren’t involved in this, so why are you giving me grief?!” And there it was. The pride Rei had come to expect when dealing with Rin.

Rei took a deep breath. “Gou-chan’s my friend. Nagisa-kun, Haruka-sempai, Makoto-sempai, all of them are my friends, and I treasure that. So get over yourself,” he fought to keep his voice level, “and stop making them sad.” 

He hung up and fumed for a while. How could such an infuriating person exist?

Rei gave himself five more minutes to look at the soccer team practicing and then started to gather his things. He would need to look up videos of birthday celebrations to send Gou’s idiotic brother, and that meant he needed his computer. Rin was lucky to have him.

*

In the end, it was fine that Rei’s totally amazing present –a book of human anatomy for artists that promised to have lots of large, glossy photos of toned, shirtless men – was shown up by Rin deigning to make an appearance in his little sister’s clearly superior life. Rin may have also brought a present, but it was an ugly cellphone charm with a framed photo of the two of them in it and clearly cheap and quickly made, yet it sent level-headed Gou into a blushing mess.

Okay, maybe Rei was a little bitter. But if that’s what it took for one of his friends to be happy, then he would take it. He would be bitter as often as necessary.

 

3.

The multicultural fair was upon Iwatobi High before Rei knew it. Not that its approach should have been a surprise – Nagisa had been audibly anticipating its arrival for the past month.

The swim club had wanted to do a separate snack booth, but the only person qualified to cook was Haruka, and he was only interested in making mackerel or taiyaki. Rei and Makoto had tried to explain that no, Haruka-sempai, people wouldn’t want to eat taiyaki that was fish flavored, but they'd both folded when Haruka had peered at them in that coaxing way of his. Nagisa had been characteristically in full support of whatever Haruka suggested, and hypothesized that people would buy weird fish flavored snacks if they took turns standing outside the booth in their swim suits.

Luckily, the matter ended when Ama-sensei had refused point blank to fund them. Well, what she had really said was “As James S. Coleman said, ‘A child’s learning is a function more of the characteristics of his classmates than those of the teacher.’”

They had all paused expectantly for a beat, and then another. Rei finally had to ask, “Is that a yes, then?”

She had smiled and replied, “No. You will work together with your respective classmates.”

So Nagisa and Rei spent the first few hours of the multicultural fair with their class rather than with Makoto and Haru. They were doing the same things regardless – once Nagisa heard class 2-1 was doing a café, he had promptly badgered their class into doing the same, because, he whispered to Rei, “We need to take pictures together at the end of the day! How can we do that if we don’t match?”

*

Rei was wandering around on break. Maybe he should go see how Haru and Makoto were doing. He didn’t exactly have friends outside of the club and the acquaintances from his class and the track team, so that was really the only option. 

He turned the corner and saw a flash of red hair. Rin was standing outside of class 2-1’s café looking crestfallen. He was, quite literally, a kid standing outside of a candy shop. He didn’t have anyone with him, so he probably didn’t want to go in and sit down at a table when it looked like Haru and Makoto were in the kitchen rather than waiting tables. And yet he had come all the way here just to see them.

Rei looked down at his apron and sighed. Emotionally stunted, shark-toothed idiots. How Rin had stumbled blind into a lifelong friend group completely by accident was beyond him.

He stuck his takoyaki skewer in his mouth and untied his apron strings. So long as he didn’t mention this to Nagisa, Nagisa wouldn’t get sad puppy eyes.

“Hey! Rin-chan-san!” Rin looked up just in time for the balled up apron to hit him in the face. Rei was pleased to confirm that his hard-earned arm muscles had remained with him after his switch from track to swimming.

Rin looked up and scowled.

“They want you there, you know. You should be alongside them,” Rei said. “Only an idiot stands in front of what he wants and doesn’t take it.”

Rin put on the apron and turned away into the classroom without so much as a thank you. Rei was nevertheless feeling very noble and magnanimous, until he looked down and realized he was now only wearing a pirate shirt, complete with ruffles and lace. 

Their class had only agreed to do a café so long as it could be sailor-themed. Rei had, for some reason, trusted Nagisa when he said he had something for Rei to wear. And now he would have to walk all the way back to his classroom in this ghastly, unbeautiful attire. Rei quite liked the pants – they were a tasteful neon blue with fashionable circular cut-outs – but the shirt was just too much to bear. Pirates were so not cool! They were dirty, smelly, unprincipled and unshaven. He had fancied himself wearing something with a great number of buttons and maybe a manly ponytail.

Curse his altruism! Curse Rin’s presence! Curse Nagisa’s hitherto unmentioned fondness for pirates!

Rei power walked back from 2-1 blushing furiously, with his head down.

“You’re back already, Rei?” Nagisa asked. “Hey, where’d your apron go?”

Rei muttered something about stopping by Haru and Makoto’s booth, really, Nagisa, take the end of his break, as he tried, mortified, to locate a spare apron.

There wasn’t one, of course.

 

4.

A week after the culture festival they went out to karaoke five train stops away. There were a few karaoke places closer to Iwatobi High, but when they were deciding which to go to, Haru had been silent until Makoto said, “Ah, we should go to the one that’s near that seafood restaurant you wanted to try.”

Rei had never put any thought into the quality of silences before he joined the swimming club. Absence of sound should just be absence of sound, but Haruka-sempai had a way of making an atmosphere with a blank expression. Rei was gradually learning how to pick out more and more shades of quiet and their meanings. Every time he accurately interpreted Haruka-sempai’s expression he felt like he was a little closer to everyone, and a little closer to being part of a family. 

As they walked down the hallway to their room, Rei thought he heard a familiar voice singing the last bars of a rock song loudly and off-key. Samezuka’s swimming club couldn’t be here, right?

The song ended and he heard, “Hey, does someone smell mackerel?” The voice was unmistakably Rin’s. Did Haru’s breath smell like mackerel? Could Rin smell it? That was creepy.

Another voice, “Mackerel? Are you hungry? Let’s send people to get snacks after this next song!”

A chorus of voices, “Yeah!!”

Half an hour later and after being made to sing several One Piece theme songs by Nagisa, Rin excused himself to go get drinks from the vending machine down the hall. If he happened to look into a few windows on the way there, it was just casual interest.

He found the Samezuka swimming club in the third room he peered into. He had started to convince himself he’d heard some other group of people, because what were the odds. Seriously, this wasn’t as weird as running into them on a deserted island, but it was still a pretty big coincidence.

Rin was slumped against the booth in a corner, gazing into space. The other team’s silver -haired kid was trying to hand him a tambourine but was being ignored, and the captain – Seijuurou? – was singing the Cutey Honey theme song with gusto as members of the swim team cheered him on.

It was a painfully familiar picture. At the start of the semester, that was exactly what Rei’s outings with the track club looked like. Rei had never felt like he belonged on the track team. He had never been good at getting close to people, especially when he had been preoccupied by the idea that beauty could only be achieved through calculation and precision. Seeing Haruka’s swimming had changed that.

Rin had lightened up a little after nationals, but you can’t just turn habits off like a switch. And living life perpetually angry and alone was a pretty big habit to snap out of. Without someone as persistent and sunny as Nagisa to badger him into being sociable, and without being reminded constantly of Haruka’s beautiful swimming, Rei would have had difficulty as well. So even though Rin had lost some of his anger and gained a steadier footing, the point remained: Rei was pretty sure Rin didn’t have any other friends.

Rei couldn’t stand by and watch this pathetic scene. He had to do something about this. His pocket, in fact, was conveniently weighed down with something he _could_ do. The fact that this would be a personally satisfying solution was irrelevant, of course.

Silver-haired guy had given up on interacting with Rin for the moment and was standing with his teammates. At the climax of the song, Rin eased open the door of the room just wide enough to throw an eraser at Rin’s head. His throw was four degrees off and hit him in the shoulder instead, but it was still effective.

Rin straightened and looked around frantically. Rei glared at him through the little window and made some choice gestures. Rin picked up a tambourine. 

His use of it wasn’t very spirited, but it was a start.

Maybe if he stopped acting like such a loser, Rei would stop having to interfere.

*

Rei was feeling good about this small victory until swim practice later that week, when Gou pulled him aside.

“My brother texted me yesterday.” Her face and voice were marked with the exuberance she exhibited whenever her brother acknowledged her existence. Hopefully Rei wouldn’t need to yell at Rin about that again. “He offered suggestions on how to improve your butterfly!”

Interesting. Rei would think it wasn’t in Rin’s interest to make his replacement a better swimmer, but maybe he had hidden depths. What would he suggest?

“He says his secret is to do three sets of twenty dive bomber pushups, with an open leg rocker between each set!” Gou smiled sunnily at him.

Rei froze, imagining it. That sounded… _so undignified_. So unbeautiful!

Gou cocked her head and widened her eyes, “Don’t you want to get better at the butterfly? My brother would never give you bad advice.”

It was one of the more mortifying half hours of his life. Who had told Rin of Rei's weakness?

“Yeah, Rin called me up the other day to ask about you, why do you ask?" Nagisa said, guileless as always. “He seems to be taking an interest in you, isn’t that great?”

Makoto, who had just walked out of the dressing room, piped up, “We were all planning on hanging out during the long weekend later this month. You should come!”

Rei didn’t know if he wanted to see or interact with Rin, but he had been planning on hanging out with the team then regardless, so he nodded and accepted. This couldn’t be too bad, right?

 

5.

The day before the holiday things went awry. Nagisa and Haruka weren’t looking very well and Makoto was absent from school. It was the flu.

They all went to visit Makoto after school. He looked pretty bad, even after taking the day off to rest. “I really wanted to hang out with everybody. But you guys shouldn’t stay here and get sick.” He eyed Nagisa dubiously. “Or sicker.”

Rei felt perfectly fine, because his family had been eating natto with taiyaki during the winter months since his grandfather’s time to promote good health, but it didn’t hurt to be cautious. All of the mucus involved in sickness was exceedingly distasteful. Even more distasteful than dive bomber pushups.

“That’s okay. I could always use the holiday to get some extra studying in.”

Nagisa turned to him, dismay writ across his pretty features, “But what about Rin? He’s going to be so lonely. He was really looking forward to hanging out with us!”

Haruka said, “Kou-chan was absent today as well,” and looked at him, somehow wordlessly conveying that Rin was all alone in the world and Rei was his only hope. 

Rei responded without any conscious input from his brain. “Of course, I’m done with all of my homework and I can put off extra studying until later.”

Haruka kept looking at him, conveying his gratefulness without changing his expression. Rei inwardly cursed his inability to say no to him.

If he was going to have to spend time with Rin, maybe he could make it productive. If he could get Rin to stop being so emotionally constipated once and for all, he might stop acting like an idiot. And if he stopped acting like an idiot, Rei would stop having chivalrous impulses whenever he saw his stupid, hapless face. Chivalry rarely ended well, he had found.

Nagisa jumped on his arm. “Operation: Rei-chan is a Host commence!”

“Hey, get off me! I don’t want to get sick!” Rei tried to gently shove him off, with little success.

“Rei-chan, hosts have to be polite and never complain! Try harder!”

“I didn’t agree to anything!”

Makoto cut in, smiling weakly, “You guys should leave soon, before you get as sick as me.”

Haruka turned and looked at him.

“Okay,” Makoto said, “you two should leave. You’re right, Haru, my mom would probably want you to stay just in case you get too sick to take care of yourself tonight.”

Nagisa looked like he was about to protest, so Rei started pushing him out of the room, leaving Makoto and a blank-faced Haru, who was radiating smugness. 

*

When Rin spotted Rei at their agreed meeting point the next morning, Rei could saw him debate leaving. He grabbed Rin’s sleeve to ensure this didn’t happen.

Rei would keep this short. “Everyone is sick. I’ve been charged with keeping you company.” He began dragging Rin in the direction of his house. Rin seemed to be too startled to resist. “I hope you like anime.”

There was a bit of an awkward moment after Rin had walked into his room. Unlike Nagisa, he didn’t stroll in and flop onto his bed. Instead, he hovered by the doorway and stared at the green blob painting next to the bookshelf. Rei persevered, and gestured at the pile of DVDs on the desk, borrowed from the library.

Rin didn’t comment, so Rei launched into the speech he had prepared after skimming a few psych books. “You have a lot of feelings. You just don’t know how to identify them. It’s an issue of correlation not equalling causation. There’s something called the Schacter two-factor theory of emotion – if you physically feel one way, it can either turn into an emotion or be attributed to something in your environment. Say student A finds physics really interesting. He gets really excited when he enters the physics lab. However, he sees himself as someone who doesn’t like science, so he decides he must be attracted to his lab partner. You felt happiness at being with friends and thought it was from winning.” 

Rin looked shellshocked. “… Okay,” he said slowly, “but why am I looking at DVDs of Naruto.”

“In order for you to recognize comradeship when it occurs, we will have to study. I’ve heard the art in the manga is much more beautiful, but we can’t very well read something together, so anime it is.” Rei pushed up his glasses. “We’ll skip all of the fillers, don’t worry.”

Rin's reaction to the first episode was not promising. “This is stupid. This kid cries too much.”

Rin grit his teeth and clicked ‘next episode.’ This was going to be a long night.

After episode 15, they stopped for a snack break. Rei came back from the kitchen holding two packets. “Dried squid or umaibo?” he asked, holding up each one.

“Umaibo,” Rin said, and reached for the pack in his hand.

Rei pulled it out of his reach. “First, quiz time!” 

Rin glared at him.

“Why did Sasuke just sacrifice himself for Naruto?”

“It was instinct,” Rin said in a bored monotone. “He was protecting the weaker person on his team.”

“Wrong! He did it because he had fun with Naruto while they trained together.” Rei threw the squid at Rin and kept the umaibo for himself. Rin clearly thought he was the one suffering, but Rei actually really liked squid. The principles of operant conditioning, however, forbade him rewarding Rin for the wrong answer. This was going to take a long time, but Rei was going to teach Rin about the power of friendship even if they had to watch Sailor Moon to do it.

Rin mutinously opened the package of squid. “...this is going to be a long night,” Rei heard him mutter.

Several hours later, Sasuke was looking into Naruto's eyes in challenge.

_“I’m looking forward to fighting you, Naruto.”_

Rin had been quiet for a long time. Was he trying to sleep through Operation: Rei is a Host? And during such an emotionally charged scene? Rei refused to be a failure, even if this hadn't been his idea in the first place!

He looked over. Rin wasn’t sleeping. Rin’s eyes were glued to the screen as tears ran silently down his face.

Rei looked back at the screen and pretended that he wasn't crying too. He sniffed, covertly.

Quite a few more hours after that, Rei sat up straighter. “You are Sasuke!” he declared.

“What?” Rin looked up blearily from the screen they’d been staring at for…how long was it, now?

“You acted like Sasuke to Haruka-sempai!” Rei struck the floor for emphasis, loudly crinkling several empty bags of chips and upsetting a soda can.

Rin looked confused. He was slumped against the side of Rei’s bed, a blanket wrapped around his shoulders. Rei grabbed the collar of his shirt. Physical altercations, he had concluded, were the only things that got through Rin’s thick skull. 

Rei spaced out a little, speculating whether he could train Rin to be expressive through touch experiments…but that was a thought for another day. To the issue at hand! It was pretty difficult keeping a train of thought after marathonning 108 episodes of an anime. That fact could be important. Better remember it. Was there a paper and pen anywhere around here…? No! The issue at hand!

“He never wanted to fight you seriously – he just wanted to coexist with you!”

Both of them silently digested that for a few moments. Or, at least, that’s what Rei was doing. He wasn’t 100% sure Rin wasn’t falling asleep with his eyes open.

Slowly, Rin’s eyes widened, fixing on Rei’s. “Oh god, how could I have done that to him?” 

“You’re both just really frustrated at not being strong enough.” Rei let go of Rin to adjust his glasses. “And that frustration turns to anger, and you lash out at the people close to you.”

They both paused again to think about that.

“Is – is Sasuke really worth it, though?” Rin was looking down at his hands. He picked at a bit of carpet fluff. The blanket was sliding off one of his shoulders and into the empty popcorn bowl. “All of the trouble Naruto and Sakura are going through for him?”

“Of course you are!” Rei grabbed his collar again and shook him. “Everyone formed the swim team to have an excuse to see you again. If they thought you were replaceable, they wouldn’t have talked about you non-stop even after I joined the team.”

Rin was curling in on himself, like he was trying to make himself as small as possible. Rei let go of his shirt and pulled the blanket back up around him. He cuffed Rin’s head for good measure. Previously noted: subject responds best to physical stimuli.

Rei cleared his throat and pressed play on the next episode. “Anyway, let’s keep watching.” If he sat back a few inches closer to Rin, well. It was for Rin’s own good. “We have a day and a half left of vacation and I heard there’s an interesting Itachi arc in Shippuden.”

A day and a half later…

Rei and Rin stood at the door to Rei’s house. The vacation was over, and they hadn’t left the house the entire time. Rei sat, looking at the shoes in his hands, like he didn’t quite have the willpower to put them on. Or get up. Or go on living.

The silence became a tangible thing that threatened to rise up and swamp Rei. He had to say something. Anything. “Naruto seemed like a good idea in theory –” he laughed awkwardly, “– but maybe we should have watched Gokusen instead.”

They both stared at the floor. They definitely should have watched Gokusen.

Rei cleared his throat and pushed up his glasses. “Anyway, uh, everyone is really disappointed they didn’t get to see you this weekend, so stop by the school sometime this week, maybe?” He touched Rin’s shoulder. Physical contact to anchor the suggestion. Who knew if it would work.

Rei saw off a broken Rin with red eyes and a silent agreement to never speak of this weekend ever again. Especially that Itachi arc.

By the end of the next week, Rei had seen no evidence of Rin visiting Iwatobi High. Apparently he had, though, because Haruka, Makoto and Nagisa joined Rei at lunch on Friday looking concerned. 

Makoto was the first one to speak. “Rin stopped by when you weren’t here.”

Rei was happy, and then confused. “Is that a bad thing?”

“He looked really depressed,” Nagisa said.

Haru shared a look with Makoto, who added, "We tried to cheer him up, and he ran out! I think he might have been _crying_."

Nagisa said, "You saw him this weekend – did something happen?"

Rei looked down and tugged on a shoelace.

“Rei?” Nagisa leaned toward him, worried.

Makoto felt his forehead. “Are you feeling well?”

Even Haru was giving him a concerned look.

Rei felt tears prick behind his eyes. He was so lucky to have people that cared about him. Bonds like this were what made life worth living. Naruto had this in Sasuke, but then Sasuke pushed him away. What if Sasuke never took Naruto back? What if neither of them was happy ever again? And that Itachi arc – oh god –

Rei fled the room, crying.

 

1.

Springtime finally came, and with it, weather warm enough to use the school’s outdoor pool. The club had swum in the rec center’s pool during the winter, but there was something exciting about having a pool to themselves, and the promise of a tournament just around the corner. 

The first week of March, the club all gathered in 2-1’s classroom after school to discuss the logistics of the coming season. Gou was planning out new workout regimes, Haruka was doodling fish with goggles on Makoto’s notebook, and Nagisa was trying to convince everyone they should go shopping for new suits that weekend.

“Should we be trying to recruit new people?” Rei tapped the end of his pencil on the desk. “We have enough people to compete, but if we had more members, maybe Ama-sensei would agree to give us funding.”

Makoto hummed contemplatively, “Well, we are going to have at least one new member, at least.”

“Wait, what?” Rei felt like he was missing something, here.

“Oh, you haven’t heard? Rin-chan’s planning on transferring to our school! ” Makoto said. “That’s actually something we wanted to talk to you about. Rei’s been in Australia, so he’s really bad at Japanese history. Samezuka let him in because they wanted him to join their swimming club.”

It felt like Makoto was working up to saying something, and Rei suspected he would not like what it was going to be. The way everyone was looking at him intently did nothing to dismiss this notion. Well, everyone but Gou, who had been ignoring them all for the past half hour. Rei eyed the door. If he managed to escape, maybe he would never have to have the end of this conversation. But that was unlikely, given how stubborn his friends were. Persistence was how they had got him to join them in the first place, after all.

“Since your best subject is Japanese history, we were hoping you could tutor him,” Makoto finished.

“How do you know he’ll even accept my help?” Rei asked, a hint of desperation leaking into his voice. Reviewing Japanese History could take weeks! Not to mention all of the unfortunate things that happened when he hung out with that guy.

“Because the kanji for ‘rei’ means wise!” Nagisa said with his particular brand of non-logic. “And he’s a little too ‘rin’ to tell you he likes being around you.”

“That guy is anything but dignified!” Rei spluttered.

“No, I meant cold and frigid!” Nagisa looked around and then added in a stage whisper, “Like the ocean. I think that’s why Haru-chan likes him.”

Rei finally had it. He could not let this lie – or collective assumption, at least – stand. “I hate to break it to you guys, but Rin-san and I are not actually friends. The majority of our interactions involve me lecturing him and making him do things.” 

Ama-sensei appeared out of nowhere and said, “As Randy Milholland said, ‘Friendship is being there when someone’s feeling low and not being afraid to kick them.’”

“Don’t worry, Rei-chan, he totally likes you!” Nagisa said.

Haru looked at him. This blank look said, _The majority of my interactions with Rin have involved him heckling me or being mad at me._

Rei stared back at him and thought, as hard as he could, _Then why are you friends with him in the first place?_

Before he could see in Haru’s face if he’d successfully conveyed his thoughts, the moment was interrupted by the chiming of a clock tower in the distance.

Nagisa looked up in the direction of the sound. “Ah! It’s that late already?” He gave Rei a friendly shove. “Bye, guys! See you tomorrow!”

Makoto picked up his backpack and bumped shoulders with Haruka. “We should probably go as well.”

Haruka brushed past Rei on the way out and said, “Think about it.”

Rei thought about it. Rin had never thanked him for anything Rei helped him with, and sometimes he even pestered Rei for helping. But he never completely checked out and ignored Rei, like he did with the silver-haired guy from Samezuka and all of his other classmates whenever Rei saw them together.

Rin glared at Rei quite often, but he had followed Rei to his house when everyone else had been sick, he took Rei’s advice. For some reason, Rei was on Rin’s radar. So maybe they _were_ friends. Rei knew firsthand how terrible Rin was at showing affection. In fact, maybe they’d been friends for months. It was possible Rei even liked spending time with him.

Huh.

Tutoring and hanging out with Rin probably wouldn’t be too bad, after all. Rei hadn’t wanted to join the swim team, after all, but it had turned out for the best.

Rin shoved his hands into his pockets, only to have his thoughts derailed by surprise when his left hand encountered something unexpected. He pulled the mystery object out of his pocket and gazed upon its ugly visage. Haruka must have slipped it into his pocket as a bribe. It was an Iwatobi bird.


End file.
